The goal of AGE AND CULTURE is to discover the influences of community context on the well-being of old people. A comparative design contrasts communities in terms of the social-system variables of scale, rate of change, economic expansion, stratification, geographic mobility, role differentiation and discontinuity. These characteristics are hypthesized to shape factors that more directly influence the well-being of old people: clarity of age grades, awareness of interdependence, age structure of social networks (homogeneity vs. heterogeneity), age norm ambiguity, peer groups, perceptions of the life course, and functionality. An "ethnography of age" will be produced in each community. These anthropological community studies focused on age will chart perceptions, norms and actions about age in the context of the entire life course as well as of the total community. An Age Game card sort elicits perceptions of the life course and its internal structure, as well as norms associated with age categories. Social Network Profiles map the role of age peers in informal social networks. Participant Observation provides information about the dynamics of age in groups, associations and public spaces. Life histories of older community residents also reveal subjective views of life-course. Well-being is measured by self-ranking in terms of individually and culturally meaningful definitions. Data well be analyzed both within each community and across communities to identify universal vs. culturally-shaped paths to well-being in old age.